Lateral stabilizer for flying boats and amphibians



Jun 2, 1942. P. R. nownr-frfl rez-TAI.V 2,285,330

LATERAL STABILIZER FOR FLYING BOATS AND AMPHIBIANS v -l'led April 26,1940 3 Sheets-Sheet l 30@ A J2 4 n lll/llll//l/l/ June 2, 1942. P, R,DQWDEN ETAL 2,285,330

LATERAL STABILIZER FOR FLYING BOATS AND AMPHIBINS Filed April 26, 1940 3Sheets-Sheet 2 June 2, 1942.

P. R. DowDl-:N ETAI.

LATERAL STABILIZER Fon FLYING agus AND AMPHIBIANS Filed April4 26, 1940Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented June 2, 1942 vn.strrzlmr. s'rAmuzEn Foa FLYINGBOATS AND AMrnmrANs r -Percy Reginald Dowden, East Cowes, Isle of Wight,and Henry Knowler, Wootton, Isle of Wight, England, assignors toSaunders-Roe' Limited, East Cowes, vIsle of Wight, England ApplicationApril 26, 1940, Serial No. 331,852

' In Great Britain April 26, 1939 2 Claims.

This invention relates to lateral stabilizing oats for flying boats andamphibian aircraft.

Usually such lateral stabilizing iioats for flying 'boats and amphibianaircraft are constructed eral stabilizing iloats into recesses in thewings,`

but, owing to the limited space available in the wings and to thenecessity for oats of ample buoyancy, it has not been found practicableto eliminate the whole of the resistance during night.

The invention provides, in an aircraft, a laterally retractablestabilizing float formed of separate watertight portions connected by afore and ait hinged joint, the hinged joint being closed in the downposition of the oat but being ar- L ranged to open, as the rloat isretracted, to permit of separation of the two portions thereof and theiraccommodation in separate recesses in the wing.

In this way it is .possible to employ a iloat of sufficient width for itto serve as an eiective lat-v eral stabilizer and nevertheless,v owingto the separation of the two parts thereof on retraction, to retract itcompletely into a thin wing.

In one arrangement according to the invention, the oat is subdividedinto two separate Watertightportionsalong the longitudinal planecontaining the keel. The two portions, which need not be of exactlysimilar shape, are hinged together along the keel line.

moved laterally and upwards the two portions hinge away from each other,the one part hinging directly into a recess in the underside of the wingand the other portion hinging about the keel line and under therestricting control of its strut or struts until it enters an adjacentwing recess provided for it. The struts also enter slots providedin theunderside of the wing so that the whole system now lies substantiallyhidden in the wing.

The operating mechanism may consist of hydraulically operated levers,cables, or other means, and locks may be provided to hold the floats inboth the operating and the retracted positions. Such locks may beoperated by manual, mechanical, hydraulic or other mechanism.

One practical embodiment of lthe invention will now be described infurther detail, by Way o example, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of apart of' theaircraft showing the float in the down position,

Figure 2 is a section along the line lil-II in Figure l,

Figure 3 is the corresponding underside plan view,

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of a hydraulic system for operating theretracting gear and locking devices, and

Figures 5 and 6 are detail views of the locking devices for securing thefloat in thel down and retracted positions respectively.

The lateral stabilizing float i0 is formed of two separate watertightportions IU, Illb separated along the longitudinal plane containing thekeel and hinged together along' the lreel line II.

The portion Ia of the float is connected to the wing I2 by two strutsI3, I4 fixed at their lower ends to the oat and pivoted at their upperends to the wing. lThe other portion Il)b of the lloat is connected tothe wing by a strut I5, crossing the struts I3, I4 and pivoted at itsopposite ends to the float and to the Wing.

The retracting 4gear consists of a pair of hydraulic jacks It, I'I, thepiston rods I8, I9 of which are connected respectively by levers 20, 2|to the struts Iii and I3, Il. In the down position of the oat shown infull lines in Figure 1, the pistons of the jacks are at the left-handends of their respective cylinders. On movement of the pistons to theright however, the struts are caused to swing about their pivotalconnections to the wing so as to retract the float laterally dottedlines in Figure 1, the portion Iii'L of the float swings bodily in anarc of a circle about the line joining the pivots at the upper ends ofthe struts I3, I4. The other portion III -oi the iloat is constrainedhowever by its strut I5 to hinge gradually away from the vportion III",until finally in the fully retracted position the previously contactingfaces 22, 22b of the two portions of the float lie parallel to oneanother, and the two portions of the float occupy separate recesses 30,30h in thev wing. As shown in Figure 3, further recesses 23, 24, 25 areprovided in the uudersurface of. the wing for the reception of thestruts I3, I4, I5 respectively. The Jacks I6, I'I are pivotedrespectively at 26, 2'I to the wing structure so as to permit thenecessary arcuate movement of the levers 20, 2|.

Owing to the fact that, on retraction, the two halves of the float hingeapart, the depth of the recesses 30, 3|!b need only be equal to half thewidth of the float, so enabling the iloat to be completely retracteddespite the relatively small depth of the wing.

,The hydraulic system shown in Figure 4 includes a reservoir 23, a pump29 and a control valve 3|, by altering the setting of which the pump canbe caused to pump oil in either direction, through a pipe systemcommunicating with the retracting jacks I6, II and with locking jacks32, 33 serving respectively for locking the float in the up and downposition. As will be seen the four jacks are arranged in parallel, and

Figure 4 shows the positions they occupy when the oat is retracted. The.latch 34 of the locking. jack 32, which is mounted in the wing, is thenin the operative position, while the latch 35 of the locking jack 33,which is mounted on the lower end of the strut I3, is withdrawn.

If now the control valve 3| is adjusted so as to cause the pump 29 todeliver oil in the direction indicated by the arrow, the latch 34 of thelocking jack 32 will be withdrawn to free the oat, the pistons in thejacks I6, |'I will be moved to the left, thereby lowering the float, andthe latch 35 of the locking jack 33 will be projected so as to lock theiloat in the downposition when it arrives there. Suitable joints,indicated diagrammatically at 36, are provided in the pipes leading tothe locking jack 33 so as to permit of the supply of oil to the jack 33despite the pivotal movement of the strut I3.

As shown in Figure 5, the latch' 35 is slidably mounted on the piston3'I of the locking jack 33, and is normally urged outwards by a spring38. It will be in the position shown in Figure 5, due to the oil havingforced the piston 31 down, when the float reaches the lowered position.The hinged joint in the float will be` closing and consequently theportion IIIb of the float will approach the latch 35 from the right asseen in the figure. The curved face of a projecting lug 39 will then acton the curved face of the latch 35, thereby lifting it against thespring 38 to an extent suilicient to enable the lug 39 to pass thelatch, whereupon the latter snaps back into the position illustrated.Its at face then cooperates with the ilat face of the lus 39 to lock thefloat securely in the down position.

The latch 34 of the locking jack 32 is similarly spring mounted andcooperates with a lug 43 on the oat in a similar way. On retraction ofthe iloat the curved face of the lug 43 will cooperate with the-curvedface on the latch to force it back, and allow it to snap home behind theflat tace ot the lug to lock the float in the up position.

It will be understood that when it is desired to retract the iioat thecontrol valve 3| is moved so as to permit the pump to circulate oil inthe reverse direction, whereupon the latch 35 will be withdrawn, the'latch 34 projected, and the jacks I6, I'I operated in the direction toretract the float.

Furthermore, although, in the arrangement illustrated, the recesses 30,3l)b in the wing which receive the two portions of the float are shownas entirely separate and distinct, they might f orm parts of a singleelongated recess of reduced depth as compared with that required toaccommodate an undivided float.

While a hydraulic retracting mechanism has been illustrated in thedrawings, it should be understood that any convenient alternative may beused, for example an electrically operated gear supplemented by a handoperated mechanism for use in case of emergency.

What we claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patentis:

1. In an aircraft, the combination of a wing, a stabilizing floatdivided along the longitudinal plane containing the keel into twoseparate watertight portions, a fore and aft hinged joint extendingalong the keel line and connecting the two portions of the iloat, alinkage for supporting the oat in its operative position below the wingand with the two portions mated, and a device for operating on saidlinkage to retract the iloat laterally into the wing, the linkage beingarranged, on retraction, to open the hinge and separate the two portionsof the float, to enable them to be accommodated side by side in thewing.

2. In an aircraft, the combination of a wing, a stabilizing floatdivided longitudinally into separate watertight portions each having aplaning bottom, a fore and aft hinged joint connecting the two portionsof the iloat, a strut fixed at one end to one portion of the float andpivoted at its other end to the wing on a fore and aft axis, a strutpivoted at its opposite ends on fore and aft axes to the other portionof the float and Ito the wing, and means for swinging the strutstransversely and inboard about their pivotal attachments to the wing toretract the iloatrinto the wing, the struts being crossed so that, whilethe two portions of the iloat are mated in the lowered position they arecaused to separate as the iloat is retracted.

PERCY REGINALD DOWDEN.` HENRY KNOWLER.

